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Blue Jays fall to Astros, lose shot at sweep

Jays could have used the confidence of a series sweep heading into what looks to be a tough road trip.

Blue Jays starter R.A. Dickey didn't have much to smile about Thursday night against Houston at the Rogers Centre. Dickey was nailed for his second loss on the season, going seven innings and giving up six hits. (Lucas Oleniuk / Toronto Star)

The Blue Jays had ace R.A. Dickey on the mound Thursday night against Houston in the hopes of getting the series sweep.

Dickey’s line — seven innings, six hits, three walks and four strikeouts —was marred by homers to the Astros’ bottom of the order hitters.

Not a good enough result from the staff ace.

Coupled with a stalled offence against Houston starter Dallas Keuchel the Jays suffered a frustrating 6-4 loss to the Astros before 15,778 at the Rogers Center.

“I did,” Dickey said, when asked if he felt he had an excellent knuckler early on Thursday night. “It’s a real surprise when I have a knuckleball like that and to have the outcome we did. I walked a couple of guys early on but they weren’t going anywhere else. It was going good but we had a couple of hiccups and it happened very quickly, so it was frustrating.”

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For the Jays, this was the third time in the three series they’ve played this season they were in position to either sweep or win the series, and they’ve failed to do so on all three occasions.

A sweep would have put Toronto at 6-4, heading into a rough road trip starting Friday, with stops in Baltimore, Minnesota and Cleveland.

Fans trying to gauge this team will look to this trip for evidence of whether their team will be as competitive as the rest of the American League East Division.

So far, the starting pitching has been averaging just over 6.5 innings per start, a solid enough effort. The bullpen has been strong and managed well by John Gibbons and the defence has been good. But cornerstone members of the offence are off to slow starts, placing more pressure on the pitching staff to carry the team until the offence catches on.

“I think we’re playing well, our pitchers are going deep into games and our bullpen should be fresh,” Dickey said.

“Jose (injured shortstop Reyes) is coming back soon, so our focus is where it should be. But we have a tough trip now so we have to bear down.”

Dickey left the game after seven innings and left Jays fans wondering once again about his consistency.

He raised the issue of the so-called “dead arm” after his first start of the season but pronounced himself clear of that after looking very much in control in his last start, a five-hit, 4-0 win over the Yankees.

But there was Dickey raising questions again about his location and approach. He gave up a two-run blast in the fifth to No. 8 hitter Robbie Grossman and a three-run shot over the centre field fence to No. 9 hitter Jonathan Villar two innings later.

It was another example of how strong American League lineups can be one through nine. But in Dickey’s case, the expectation is he an handle those hitters.

The right-hander left the game after seven giving up six hits, three walks, four strikeouts and 112 pitches, 71 for strikes. In other words, Dickey was around the plate and two light hitters made him pay dearly.

But in fairness, the knuckleballer may have had a different result had he received any run support from a club that was baffled all night by Keuchel.

Toronto managed five hits off Keuchel, with Colby Rasmus banging a homer in the fifth.

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